


It's Not Time To Worry Yet

by Mandergee



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, I promise, No Actual Character Death, Nostalgia, One Shot, Spoilers for Season 2, Talk of Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-31
Updated: 2014-10-31
Packaged: 2018-02-23 08:05:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2540471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mandergee/pseuds/Mandergee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's always a certain risk involved, sending an agent out into the field. But when that agent has a stake in your own future...the worry can take over and the personal side of things may come out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Not Time To Worry Yet

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a quote from Harper Lee, author of "To Kill A Mockingbird", and was found here:  
> https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/15839-it-s-not-time-to-worry-yet

“Did he get you anywhere else?”

“You know, that's going to get old.” May hissed as she pulled herself onto the exam table, reached for the patches of gauze she'd laid out in neat white squares against the stainless steel. “Morse and Hunter aren't any worse for wear- I think they've both gone upstairs, if you need to debrief.”

“The debrief can hold. Imagine my surprise when Hunter stopped in, told me you'd been injured and were on your way to the infirmary.” He'd been waiting, she realized, sitting in his office expecting for the team to come home and- judging by the way his fingers danced against his thigh- etching symbols into the desk. _He was worried.._ and she'd heard it in his voice. “May. I told you-”

“To come home safe. We did. We're all here.” The gauze stuck and she tore it away, gazed down at the sticky red blood that stood out against the snowy material. When she'd been young she'd skinned her knee, could remember the blinding white pain and the pieces of gravel her mother had picked out of the raw gashes with a tiny pair of silver tweezers. It had been the first time she'd seen her own blood and it was brighter than a crayon from the box she kept in her bedroom, brighter than the stop sign at the entrance to their tiny cul-de-sac. Now blood was all too commonplace but still so bright, and she wondered when she'd stopped being so frightened at the sight of it. “Phil, it's just a scratch. The knife only grazed me.”

“You should have called.”

“I _shouldn't_ have. You already have enough to coordinate. And besides,” She smiled wryly, reached for the medical tape and began to gently seal a clean patch in place over her bicep. “Losing my favorite jacket hurt more than this. I've seen worse, and you know it.”

“I do. But just...keep me in the loop next time, all right?” They'd become something else over the course of the months they'd spent at the Playground, although as she listened to his steps fading away May realized she didn't know exactly _what_ that something was. Neither was each others keeper, though whatever control Coulson had left was in the way he kept his team, and she well aware that his concern for her safety had intensified since they'd gone undercover together. Whether it was due to the imposter or the knowledge that he could have lost her to Hydra, she couldn't guess.

\--

When she finished patching herself up she found him in his office, and leaned against _his_ doorframe to watch him absently pat his pockets looking for the glasses that sat to her right. Just inside the door, where he would have set them once Hunter had tipped him off and he'd headed for the infirmary- a man on a mission.

“Here you go.” She hadn't expected him to take her hand, pull her in and rest his head on her shoulder. Breathing in the scent of the day, the fresh layer of soap that coated her skin. Routine had led her to the shower as soon as they'd come in, and she knew that in a day or so the gash on her arm would be closed further, leaving little trace of the fight she could have lost. Any fight could be lost, even for her, and Coulson's relief was more than evident as he pressed his lips against the patch-up job. “Phil. We can't do this now.”

“Give me a good reason why we shouldn't, Melinda. You could have been killed- Hydra could have won.” His arms came up to encircle her, and his hands were warm through the thin cotton of her shirt. “I can't lose another agent. I can't lose _you_.”

“It could happen,” She reminded him. “Our personal feelings have to take a backseat, Phil- until we can build up again. You need me out there. And I need you to stop worrying.”

He held her for a while and May let him, let the stress bleed from his shoulders and out through the tips of his fingers tracing patterns along the bare skin of her arms. Let him stay until the patterns began to slow, then stop, and he stepped back to stare into her eyes before giving her the longest kiss she'd had in weeks. Maybe she'd go out on a mission one day and never come home, and maybe one day she'd be forced to hold a gun to his head and let a bullet loose to lodge itself into his brain. She knew he'd never stop worrying any more than she would, and there would come a day when one of their worries would see the light.

“I've got work to do,” He murmured against her lips, in the wake of one last kiss. For now. “You should go downstairs- see how the team is holding up. Hunter, especially.”

“They were fighting together, he and Bobbi. I think they'll work things out, but it should be an interesting show to watch.” May's hand came up, rubbed his arm reassuringly. “Don't stay up too late, Phil.”

“It's not time to worry yet. ” He tossed the words at her with a smile, and she turned away she could hear his chair creaking as he settle back behind the desk. “May.”

“Yeah.”

“Leave the door unlocked.” He'd stay up for a while, she knew, labor over paperwork until his vision blurred, and she'd wake up to the feeling of his skin against hers, crawling beneath the covers at the crack of dawn. Before she'd get out of bed for her morning routine she'd curl close to him as she always did, and for a little while there wouldn't be anything to worry about. He'd be there, and he'd be safe...because they were together.


End file.
